CINCINNATI and BLACKBURN, UK—Grocery giant Kroger Co., which said this past October that it was exploring a potential sale of its convenience store business, has found a buyer for that platform. Kroger and Blackburn, UK-based EG Group said Monday they had agreed to the sale of Kroger's C-store business for $2.15 billion. The deal, which is expected to close quickly, will mark EG's debut in the US.

Under the agreement with Kroger, EG will establish its North American headquarters in Cincinnati and continue to operate the 762 stores it's acquiring from Kroger under their established banner names, including Turkey Hill, Loaf 'N Jug, Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb and Quik Stop. Kroger's C- store business generated revenue of $4 billion and sold 1.2 billion gallons of fuel in 2016, with fuel sales accounting for more than half the revenue. Not included in those totals are fuel sales through Kroger supermarkets.

Although C-stores have been part of the Kroger mix for several years, “as part of our regular review of assets, it has become clear that our strong convenience store business unit will better meet its full potential outside of our business,” says Mike Schlotman, EVP and CFO at Kroger. “One of the most important considerations in our decision-making process was continued operations to ensure minimal disruption to our associates. We are very pleased the EG Group plans to establish their North American headquarters in Cincinnati.”